The lower house of the French Parliament has rejected a controversial amendment that it had adopted the day before and that maintained palm oil on the official biofuel list until 2026.
In December 2018, the Parliament removed a tax exemption on palm oil-based products as of 1 January 2020, taking into account palm oil culture's indirect effects on greenhouse gas emissions. Total, which was converting its La Mede refinery into a biofuel plant, applied to the constitutional court, claiming that the new legislation would be a discrimination against palm oil and that the end of the tax advantage on palm oil would cost €70m/year to €80m/year. In October 2019, the constitutional court rejected Total's appeal and upheld a law excluding palm oil from the national biofuel scheme.
During the 2020 budget review, the lower house of the French Parliament swiftly adopted an amendment to postpone the exclusion of palm oil from the list of biofuels from 2020 to 2026, which sparked an outcry from environmental groups and prompted deputies to vote again on the matter.
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